Measurements are obtained for a variety of types of purposes, including by contractors bidding on construction work. One area where measurements are useful for determining job costs is in the field of roofing. Currently, measurements are obtained by placing personnel on the roof to manually walk the roof and take measurements. These measurements are later used to draw the roof based off notes, or provided to a paid service to draw the roof.
Another type of measurement is produced without a site visit by using aerial satellite or fly-over imagery of an area that is publicly available from several providers (e.g., Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and so forth). This type of measurement has several drawbacks. First, the imagery is taken from so far away from the target job site, that it often lacks sufficient resolution to allow proper estimation of job costs. In addition, because the imagery is taken from far overhead, only a top down perspective of the target site is available. Features that might be visible from a side perspective are not capture by such methods. For example, roof penetrations like vents, chimneys, and the like may not be clearly visible or easily measurable from low resolution, overhead imagery. Finally, such imagery is rarely updated, and often only contains pictures of a job site as it existed prior to any damage. For example, if the reason for needing construction work is due to damage from a hailstorm, insurance adjusters and contractors alike may be interested in seeing the damage to the site.
The current methods do not give sufficient documentation or accuracy as additions to the roof or other job site may have been made since a photo was last taken. The aerial method does not identify current damage and the level of accuracy is insufficient and inconsistent, often leading to estimation errors. Existing photos are of such poor resolution that many features of a roof (e.g., plumbing vents) cannot be seen or accurately measured. Oftentimes the existing database of photos does not offer coverage in rural areas or are sometimes obscured by foliage or shadowing. For on-site methods that involve the placement of personnel in danger, contractors and insurance adjustors take risk getting on damaged roofs in order to document the roof and acquire measurements for repairs and replacements of roofs. The existing process is dangerous, time consuming, and often inaccurate.